Any gearhead worth their wrenches knows the story of the Ford GT. Built out of spite for Enzo Ferrari, the Ford GT went on to dominate the Le Mans racing series, finishing in first, second, and third multiple times. These cars absolutely dominated the track, and the few survivors now rest in the hands of high-end car collectors.
But even among this elite car segment, there is an even rarer version of the Ford GT; the GT Roadster. Just five examples were ever made, and only four have survived the four and a half decades sine they were built. Top Gear’s website reports that one of these ultra-rare GT Roadsters is heading to auction at RM Auction’s Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este in Cernobbio, Italy on May 21.
Of course all Ford GT’s have some racing history, and this particular car was raced by two well-known drivers, John Whitmore and Bob Bondurant. Painted Linden Green, this car was chassis GT/111, and the only saw action it ever saw was at the 1965 Targa Florio before being retired due to race-related damage. Then it disappeared for four decades as the GT roadster program was dismissed, and the car languished at the back of the shop, slowly plucked clean of most of its usable parts.
It was uncovered and restored in the mid-2000’s, and since being fixed up, the car has traveled the world for all sorts of racing events and nostalgia races, and now its going to auction. Had this been just a few years ago, Ford GT’s were crossing the auction block at close to half a million dollars. So one of just four GT roadsters probably could have pulled in close to a million bucks; these days though, it’d be lucky to cross the $500,000 mark.